In Gallery 2\, we are thrilled to present “Moving Hol
ds”\, our first solo show with LILLI CARRÉ. A "moving hold
" is an animation technique that involves cycling several drawings of a sta
tionary character\, giving the drawn lines a sense of vibration and energy.
This allows the image to have a sense of movement while it is suspended in
space in a holding pattern\, making it feel alive while it is still. For t
he show Carré has created three different sets of work that all incorporate
moving holds\, as an idea\, a technique\, or both. The show opens on Friday\, April 20\, 2012 with
a free public reception from 5 t
o 8pm and will run through May 19th\, 2012.

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Lilli Carré is attracted to the collision of tragedy and humor. Working primarily i
n the mediums of comics and animation\, Carré often depicts tragic moments
within forms mainly known for their lightheartedness\, allowing for a more
disarming resonance. By isolating and giving character to ignored objects a
nd daily moments\, or weaving them into a narrative structure\, Carré depic
ts the absurdity\, despair and humor that these small pieces of everyday li
fe can illuminate. The works in this show all focus on the human body in sp
ace being broken.

“Everything Must Go” is an animated loop ma
de from roughly 500 paintings\, based frame-by-frame on found footage of a
windsock man blowing in the wind on top of a shuttered business. The graphi
c\, exaggerated human form dances awkwardly in space\, characterized by bot
h the goofy expression of extreme joy and the desperation of another failed
business\, an alternately ecstatic and beaten-down figure. The figure is f
orever flapping in a constant state of catharsis or nervous breakdown\, a f
lailing body that no longer has a purpose. The animation is a laborious tri
bute to this body in the wind\, itself a ridiculous monument to failure.

For “In Suspense”\, a hand-drawn animated loop of a human triang
le being alternately composed and let loose\, Carré rotoscoped the first ha
lf of a cycle from an early Lumiere Brother film snippet. The act of tracin
g and retracing the bodies allowed the forms to become more distinctly geom
etric and abstract. The figures rebuild themselves into an acrobatic pose o
f carefully balanced human towers\, and then break down into wandering basi
c shapes\, and the loop begins again\, the towers re-form\, break down and
repeat\, again and again.

Carré’s new series of large ink wash
drawings\, “The Meteorites”\, depict balled masses of what resembles calci
fied remains\, space junk clusters or what may be found at the bottom of a
purse or well\, collected and re-solidified into a new mass. Each meteorite
represents the decay and reformation of a person and all their things. Som
e parts of the body are geometrically abstracted and broken down\, while ot
her more trivial objects like high heels\, coins and old house plants remai
n perfectly intact. Carré thinks of theses masses as meteorites\, dead and
lifeless yet flying fast through space with eventual impact.

Lilli Carré is an interdisciplinary artist currently livin
g in Chicago\, and primarily works in the forms of experimental animation\,
film\, and comics. Her animated films have been shown in festivals through
out the US and abroad\, including the Sundance Film Festival\, and she is t
he co-founder of the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation. Her books
of comics are The Lagoon
\, Nine Ways to Disappear
\, Tales of Woodsman Pete
\, and the forthcoming collection Heads or Tails. Her work has appeared in The Believer Mag
azine\, the New Yorker\, The New York Times\, Best Am
erican Comics and Best American Nonrequired Reading. This sum
mer she will be working on a new collaborative animated piece as a resident
at Yaddo.